Night Lights
by Mioda Ibuki
Summary: Mysterion has been revived again, however, his life is thrown upside-down by a former fatass who decides to join in the superhero craze again, and a little girl...with a peculiar fear of the dark & things in it. Kenman, sorta, though anyone can enjoy.
1. Cyanide and Simple Minds

**Night Lights**

_In my dreams, you always play the hero._

_In my darkest night, you rescue me, you save my life._

- Anonymous

**Chapter 1: Cyanide and Simple Minds**

Pitter-pat. Pitter-pat. Pitter-pat. Pitter-pat.

The sound of footsteps, running, alone in the world, terrified, worried, please-save-me-my-hero-please-bring-the-villain-to-justice, scared.

Those were familiar sounds. I'd heard them every night. Of course, it's not like I don't HAVE to. When I was a child, this was just…a game, I guess. Some sort of fucked-up game we played, and somehow successfully pulled it off in real life just as well. Getting older, I realized something important.

The people in South Park, most notably, anyone with any authority, are fucking stupid.

And so, I had to go back, plunge back knee-deep inside my childhood, and pull out my old costume, and touch it up a bit. No one could really blame me, hell, everyone on some level was astounded. Mysterion. The grade-A class superhero. By day, Kenny McCormick, who lives alone, stays alone, and likes his privacy. By night, Mysterion, the mysterious icon of South Park and the mysterious man who saved those in need.

Of course, to demonstrate their stupidity, they turned Mysterion into a corporate icon. Someone, god-knows-who, someone in Denver, I guess, trademarked the name, even, and turned it into a comic book, complete with cartoon tie-ins and all that good shit. Whoop-dee-doo, I got sold out like a corporate whore.

When the rest of the group found out about me taking up the mantle again, it led to a few jokes.

"_Maybe I should be Toolshed again." Stan, now the (in?)famous quarterback of the school football team, the South Park Stinging Bees, grinned. "Steal a few tools from my old man's workshop….he'd probably not even notice." It was a well-known fact that now, Randy Marsh, in his old age, had gotten a slight habit of not noticing certain things unless they were pointed out to him – to which he'd always respond 'I know! I'm not old! Jesus Christ, don't prepare my will yet!' That had become a running joke. _

"_Human Kite, at your service." Kyle opened his arms like a child imitating a plane. "I can fly and get stuck on trees! Most useful superhero ever." He rolled his eyes, slurping up his soup. _

_Cartman, notably, had shut up when this subject was brought up. I, of course, took the opportunity to poke this – because I don't imagine anyone wouldn't._

"_Oi, oi, lest we forget The Coon?"_

_That earned me a bitter laugh and Cartman laying his head on the table, closing his eyes._

"_Like hell I'd revive The Coon. He was a one-trick raccoon, so to speak." _

"_Oh, come on, you loved playing superheroes."_

"_Past tense. Loved. Not anymore. I believe The Coon falls into the category of 'old shame'." I should explain that Cartman had gotten his intelligence up a bit for the sheer sake that he didn't want to 'appear like a total retard and have to sit at the table with Jimmy and Timmy' when we got into high school. He had somewhat succeeded. At least, the term 'fatass' hadn't applied to him for a while. Rumors went around about liposuction, but these were neither confirmed nor denied. _

"_Anyway, Kenny, you entirely sure that Mysterion's the thing you should bring out again? We all remember Coon and Friends, but I don't see Mintberry Crunch running around protecting the city."_

_To be fair, Mintberry Crunch went back to his home planet, and died on a rocket ride there. Since then, the disrespectful term for it is 'getting Poochied'. _

"_Exactly. Do you really think that our law enforcement agencies, as it is, seem to be doing any sort of a decent job?"_

"_When have they ever?"_

"_When __**WE **__were the order that protected this town."_

"_Look, Kenny…I know you want to be the hero, especially after what happened a year ago, but…" Stan spoke up. "It might not be for the best, I mean, do you want to get yourself killed out there?"_

"_If it's in the name of protecting the people I love. Besides, I die every damn day."_

"_You can't be serious." Cartman picked his head up, staring dryly at me. "You can't be."_

"_I am."_

"_Jesus Christ. Well, whatever stuff you have, can I call dibs on it?"_

"_No."_

"_Damn." Cartman seemed to lose interest, and then scooped a bit of soup into his mouth and swallowed. "Well, you do what you want. Just don't think that The Coon will be out there to clean up your shit if you make any." _

"_When did you ever? __**You**__ made the mess, and __**I **__had to clean it up."_

_Cartman smirked._

"_Don't sweat the details, Mr. Protector."_

And so, here I was, gazing down from the top of a building, glaring down at the streets below with a scowl on my face and an ever-present hand rolled into a fist, ready to strike.

She was alone. No, she wasn't alone; there were two others with her. One of them was a woman, and the other….I couldn't tell. It was too dark. I stared at the group, and watched them, my eyes darting back and forth from the two who as far as I could tell, were a couple, and the young girl.

The woman was speaking. I couldn't hear her. I couldn't hear anything. The man – I could tell, the figure was male, although he wore a…was that a gimp mask? He held a blade to the young girl's throat. The woman was still talking away, and then pressed into the man, causing him to stumble a bit, cutting the girl a bit. She yelped. The woman laughed in a seductive way, and then grabbed the man's hand, running the blade down her arm and making an even bigger cut. The little girl stared, blinking, twitching, tears in her eyes. She was horrified. She was scared.

She was…

"You motherfuckers!"

I kicked the man into the brick wall that he pressed the girl into. The girl had sunk to the floor and was pressing her hands above her head, terrified. The woman faltered for a moment, and then stared into my eyes with the most pathetic look, like I had kicked a dog or something to the like. She began almost to cry, and I pushed the man into her arms.

"You damn well be glad that you didn't do what I expected you to. I'll fucking kill both of you if you try ANYTHING like this again! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" I pressed both of them into the wall, and took the blade roughly out of the gimp's hands, pressing it against the woman's neck. She moaned, nodding slowly. I tossed the blade onto the ground, and kicked it away. The little girl stared at it as it slid down the alleyway, as if she was stunned. "You make me sick." I pushed the two criminals away, and spat on them as they dashed for their lives.

The little girl stared up at me, as if to question who I was, or where I came from.

"Where did they take you from?"

No answer.

"What's your name?"

Once again, no answer. She stared at me, blankly.

"…Do you have a family?"

She stared at me, and then looked down, almost afraid to speak at all.

"…Look, do you want to go to the police and find your parents?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Then what do you want to do?"

The girl blinked, and then slowly, with trembling steps – I noticed that her legs were fairly cut up already – hugged me gently.

"…You want to stay with me?"

I could feel her nodding.

"I can't, I'm a superhero, Mysterion, there's danger, and…"

A small snore. I sighed.

"Guess I'm stuck with you, at least for a while."

With that, I picked the small girl up and dashed away, quickly, into the night, as I'd appeared only a bit before.


	2. Identities and General Mayhem

**Night Lights**

**Chapter 2: Identities and general mayhem**

The girl had curled up silently on Kenny's bed, as the teen tossed down his mask, leaning against the wall of his apartment. He sighed, shaking his head slowly, and pinched the bridge of his forehead.

_Think, McCormick. Are you really going to be able to take care of a orphan….at least, you assume it's a orphan – what if those were her parents, then you can't let her free, they'd….god, they'd….it's best not to even think about it. _

_Okay. Organize your thoughts._

_Describe the girl._

_Blonde – most likely dyed. Dark skin-tone, most likely mixed heritage. Green eyes. Short….not sure of the exact height. Most likely around the age range of 5-9. Apparently a mute, probably from trauma. Attackers were white, a tall woman and a short man. Both escaped, although they were bleeding pretty heavily, so who knows if they're still alive or not. _

_My options being that I could keep her here, and take care of her myself, but….another would be to turn her in to the police, but the authority here couldn't do shit, and she'd most likely end up being killed in their hands moreso than anyone else's. _

_But—_

A small whimpering escaped the room, and Kenny walked over, peeking inside. The girl had curled into the blankets, looking around her, terrified. Kenny walked inside and kneeled down next to the girl, and she scooted away, scared. He rubbed his chin, then ran out, put on his Mysterion mask, and walked back in. The girl, at this, jumped out of bed and ran towards Mysterion, hugging him tightly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked. The girl looked up at him, with tears in her eyes. "Did you have a nightmare?"

The girl shook her head.

"…Do you not know where you are? You're at my home, if you're—"

She shook her head again, and then pointed all around her, clinging onto Mysterion tightly.

"You're afraid of the dark?"

The girl nodded slowly, and then closed her eyes tightly, as if to hope that it would be light when she opened them. Mysterion got up, and then turned on the small lamp next to the bed before the girl opened her eyes. Feeling the light, the girl opened her eyes and smiled weakly, grateful. Mysterion smiled down at her, and then placed her back on the bed.

"Now, rest, kay? We'll talk in the morning; it's too late for kids like you to be up." He chuckled, about to shut the door, as the girl reached out her hand, and then faltered as if she were scared, once again. "What? The light's on."

The girl stared at him as if awaiting something more.

"…You want me to stay 'til you go to sleep?"

The girl nodded, and Mysterion walked over, lying beside her, as the girl curled up against him, and smiled once again, feeling safe at that moment, at least. Mysterion sighed gently, and then closed his eyes weakly as he heard the girl's faint snoring.

_Whatever you do, though, don't get too attached._

Waking up in the morning – if there was one thing Kenny was grateful for, it was that it wasn't a school day - seemed to look as though life had returned to normal. Kenny woke up alone, rubbed his eyes, although he still felt the mask on his face, he took no mind until he heard the sound of a sink running in the other room. The girl stepped out, still wearing her somewhat-bloodied clothes with the two pink bows in her hair keeping her hair into pigtails.

"…Mornin'." Mysterion smiled down at the girl. She nodded as if to return the greeting. "We're gonna have to talk today. Just go to the living room and sit down on the couch. I'll make us some breakfast in a sec."

The girl smiled and then ran off, her small feet making small pits-and-pats against the floor of the apartment. Mysterion—Kenny—washed his face off in the bathroom, then brushed his teeth and walked out to the small living room/joint kitchen that he'd rented out. The girl stared up at him as he entered, and he nodded.

"You do like pop-tarts, right?"

The girl nodded slowly – although it was pretty obvious that she would have taken anything – and watched Kenny closely as he got her some of the chocolate pop-tarts that were stashed in the pantry, and got some strawberry ones for himself.

"Sorry I don't have much more – I'm pretty poor." He chuckled. "Always have been, so…"

The girl waved her hands as if to communicate that she seemed to be in the same level of income – although considering how she was found, it was pretty obvious – and she didn't mind. Kenny handed her a plate and sat down next to her, eating his strawberry pop-tarts.

"Alright. So. Let's talk. You have a name, right? Calling you kid might just be weird."

The girl nodded slowly.

"Alright, so what is it?"

The girl looked down helplessly, and Mysterion nodded, putting his plate down on the third seat next to him and grabbing a notebook with a pen out from a small cabinet.

"Here, write it if you remember it."

The girl took the pen weakly, and began to write, ending up with scribbles on the paper.

"…Um…how about I just call you K-I-D-D. Kidd." Kenny smiled weakly, trying to decode the scribbles, but coming up with nothing.

The girl smiled, as if to agree that that was okay.

"So, do you have any place to live, Kidd?"

Kidd shrugged, and then pointed to the ground, grinning.

"Smart one, I meant another place." Kenny rolled his eyes.

Kidd then paused and shook her head.

"Alright…any family?"

Once again, this resulted in Kidd shaking her head.

"…No one? You've got no one?"

Kidd nodded, and Kenny sighed.

"So you want to stay here."

Kidd nodded quickly.

"Well….I've got school, and I've got criminals to catch. You'd have to either come along, or you'd have to take care of yourself a good chunk of the time. I think school won't be much of a problem, South Park Elementary will take you and I think there's a babysitting service the—"

Kidd pouted at the usage of the word 'baby'.

"Oh, fine, a day-care service." Kenny rolled his eyes. "You could probably stay there and I'd come pick you up after a while, but…you probably can't stay here forever, I know for sure I wouldn't be a good parent." He ruffled Kidd's hair, and she sneezed, giggling. "But for the time being, you can stay with me for a while." She raised her hands in celebration, and hugged Kenny tightly. "Now, don't call me Mysterion in public, okay? I'm Kenny McCormick, and you're Kidd McCormick, my little cousin."

Kidd nodded in understanding.

"Me being Mysterion is secret. Make sure to remember that, Kid—"

"Oi, Kenny!"

Kenny blinked, and then turned to the door, staring at it, hearing the knocking.

"Today's our game day! Cartman, Kyle, and even Butters are here, along with me! Come on, I know you're there!"

And with that, Kenny quietly pushed Kidd off to his room, bracing for the impact he was about to let into his small apartment.


End file.
